In Ukraine there are “clear patterns of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Russian forces in their conduct of hostilities,” denounces an OSCE report prepared by independent experts.
(Read: Ukraine: Russian troops use mobile crematoria to eliminate evidence)
If, in invading Ukraine, Russia had respected IHL “in terms of distinction, proportionality and precautions”, the number of civilians killed or wounded would have been much lower”, is one of the conclusions reached by the report signed by Wolfgang Benedek, Veronika Bilková and Marco Sassóli.
(You are interested in: Ukraine: there will be no humanitarian corridors this Wednesday due to Russian attacks)
The document compiles attacks on civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, extrajudicial executions, cases of sexual violence and possible deportations of Ukrainian civilians, among other issues.
This is the first report by independent experts from an international body that identifies evidence of possible war crimes in Ukraine.
for now, These are the results of a preliminary investigation, commissioned on March 3 by 45 of the 57 member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), supported by kyiv and opposed by Moscow.
The investigation – presented today at an OSCE meeting – covers the events from February 24 to April 1, so it does not include the atrocities discovered in Bucha and other towns near kyiv, which have been attributed to Russian troops.
Introducing 🐶 Bucha.
The police found her as seen in the video in the tragic town and therefore her new name.
Although the rescued dogs are taken to shelters, Bucha has ended up living with the family of the police officer who rescued her pic.twitter.com/6kWDGssXfN
— (Fauerzaesp) Special Forces (@Fauerzaesp) April 5, 2022
Russia refuses to participate
Russia was invited to cooperate with the expert mission, but refused to provide any information or help.
The 45 partners of the OSCE – including the US and all those of the European Union – commissioned the study invoking the so-called “Moscow Mechanism”, with the aim that the possible perpetrators be brought to justice in the future.
The 108-page document notes that “selective killings, enforced disappearances and kidnappings of civilians, including journalists” are “patterns” of human rights violations that have been recurrently documented in areas under Russian control.
If these attacks against the civilian population are shown to have been committed in a premeditated and systematic manner, “they would then constitute a crime against humanity.” The report also notes that the war began with an “illegal attack” by Russia.
Experts indicate that the report is “preliminary” given the short period of study in an armed conflict that is still active. The document collects some specific examples of violations of international humanitarian law.
bombings in civilian areas
The report considers “indisputable” the use against densely populated areas of cluster bombs – a weapon that releases a large number of small explosives – as well as high-power projectiles, unguided missiles, artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.
It also points to the alleged use of weapons prohibited by the Geneva Convention, such as thermobaric bombs and white phosphorus.
The use of heavy weapons against civilian areas would be an indication that Russia has not taken precautionary measures to avoid unnecessary deathsviolating the rules of proportionality in the use of force, which could be a war crime.
The attack on hospitals and the Mariupol theater
It is very likely that this incident constituted an egregious violation of international humanitarian law and those who ordered or executed it committed a war crime.
The attack on the hospital in that Ukrainian port city, on March 9, is “a clear violation of international humanitarian law and those responsible have committed a war crime,” says the report.
The experts conclude that the hospital was destroyed by a Russian attack that they consider “deliberate” and in which, moreover, no prior warning was given.
The March 16 attack on the Mariupol theater killed around 300 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The authors point to a Russian airstrike and point out that they have no evidence to support that it was a Ukrainian military unit, as the Kremlin claims.
Besides, the same report includes a series of cases of “murders of civilians by Russian forces that reveal characteristics of extrajudicial executions”.
Specific examples include the mayor of Hostomel, Yuriy Prylypko, and two volunteers, “shot dead by Russian soldiers while delivering food and medicine.”
Prylypko’s body was also used as a booby trap. Another case cited is that of Oleksander Kononov, a disabled activist from the Luhansk region who was shot dead by Russian soldiers on March 13 in his home.
Sexual violence and deportations
The authors collect cases of sexual violence committed by Russian troops, referring, for example, to a case in the town of Bovary, near kyiv, where a drunken Russian soldier allegedly entered a house, killed a man and raped a woman in front of their young son.
There have also been cases of gang rapes committed by Russian soldiers.
The document includes allegations of forced deportations of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, about 500,000 people according to the Ukrainian side. If they are forced population movements, they are a war crime and a violation of humanitarian law.
Violence against journalists
Several cases are collected, one of them is that of a Ukrainian collaborator of Radio France who was held captive in a cellar for nine days by Russian soldiers.
He was “repeatedly beaten with an iron bar and rifle butts, tortured with electric shocks, deprived of food for 48 hours and subjected to a mock execution”.
There will be no EU impunity
The European Union (EU) assured this Wednesday that “there will be no impunity” in Ukraine after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released a report that shows a “clear pattern” of human rights violations by of Russian forces during the occupation.
“The OSCE Moscow Mechanism report shows clear patterns of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law due to Russia’s brutal and illegal war against Ukraine,” Nabila Massrali said on her official Twitter account. , spokesman for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.
Massrali assured that the EU “supports all measures to ensure accountability”, and made it clear that “there will be no impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The goal is for those responsible to be brought to justice.
According to the preliminary conclusions of the OSCE report, prepared by independent experts, in Ukraine there are “clear patterns of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Russian forces in their conduct of hostilities”.
The three authors of the report on human rights violations and possible war crimes in Ukraine have found “credible evidence suggesting that violations of even the most fundamental human rights have been committed.”
If it is shown that these attacks against the civilian population had been committed in a premeditated and systematic manner, any such violent act “would then constitute a crime against humanity”.
On the EU side, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, sent a letter to the Twenty-seven with a list of requests he had received from the Ukrainian Attorney General, including the provision of investigators to document war crimes, experts with forensic knowledge, equipment for the secure storage of evidence, secure lines of communication or training of investigators.
In addition, the Community Executive is preparing a proposal to modify the Eurojust regulations and give that agency the legal possibility of collecting and storing evidence on war crimes, specifically audio and video recordings.
Ukraine is a crime scene
We have to go through the fog of war to get to the truth
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, held a meeting with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Iryna Venediktova, and visited the city of Bucha, east of kyiv, from where he said that “Ukraine is the scene of a crime”.
“We are here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes are being committed that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC,” Khan said in a tweet posted today on the court’s verified account.
The publication was accompanied by images of the British jurist inspecting burned vehicles and attending to the local media.
The court assured that, in its meeting with the Ukrainian prosecutor, it was agreed to “deepen the commitment and further strengthen alliances” because “they are crucial to achieving accountability for international crimes committed in Ukraine.”
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation in this country on March 2 and began evidence collection activities.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are States Parties to the international court, but kyiv submitted two requests, in November 2013 and February 2014, with which it accepted its jurisdiction.
The Russian occupation of Bucha left more than 400 civilians dead, according to the authorities, and their bodies have been found in basements, private apartments, in graves or dumped in the street.
The Ukrainian intelligence service denounced that the Russian troops intend to eliminate any type of evidence that confirms that they have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine and that for this they use mobile crematoria, especially in the city of Mariúpol, so as not to leave a trace of their atrocities, as has supposedly happened in Bucha.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
More world news
– USA: Colombian government did not always respect the right to protest
– New York lives moments of panic by shooting in the subway
– Mexico: Prosecutor’s Office investigates the disappearance of a famous model in OnlyFans
#Ukraine #crime #scene #ICC #prosecutor